Montreal Canadiens at Colorado Avalanche

Montreal lost, 3-2, in a shootout with Nashville at Bell Centre on Saturday night, dropping its second straight tilt, and falling to 6-11-3 in the last 20 games overall -- worst in the Eastern Conference, and tied for second worst in the league since December 23. The Habs are 2-3 in shootouts this season.

Colorado defeated Buffalo, 5-4, at KeyBank Center on Sunday night, snapping a two-game losing streak in the process. The Avs have won nine straight games at Pepsi Center -- their longest home winning streak since moving from Quebec to Denver in 1995-96.

The Canadiens beat the Avalanche, 4-2, in these clubs' first meeting of the season on January 23 at Bell Centre. Colorado has defeated Montreal two straight and four of the last five times the teams have skated against each other at Pepsi Center.

Brendan Gallagher lit the lamp for a team-high 20th time of 2017-18 Saturday night, recording the second 20+ goal campaign of his NHL career (had 24 in 2014-15). Gallagher has two markers and two helpers during his current four-game point streak against Colorado.

Colin Wilson had a marker and an assist Sunday night, recording his second two-point performance of the season, and giving him 100 career goals overall. Wilson has five points (1g, 4a) in his last five skates against the Habs.

Montreal is 7-8-3 when getting two or more days off between games this season. Colorado is 8-3-3 when getting 2+ days off between tilts in 2017-18.

When the Colorado Avalanche rolled into the Montreal three weeks ago, they were riding a league-high 10-game winning streak and had gone from a postseason afterthought into a playoff spot.

The Canadiens stopped the streaking Avalanche with a 4-2 victory Jan. 23, and that started a 3-5-1 stretch for Colorado that left it outside of wild-card position in the Western Conference.

The Avalanche are looking for a little payback -- and momentum -- when they host Montreal on Wednesday night in search of their 10th straight victory at the Pepsi Center.

Colorado will be without All-Star and leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon for the seventh straight game, which has had an impact on Colorado's offense. Before a 5-4 victory at Buffalo on Sunday, the Avalanche had scored five goals in their previous four games.

The offense broke out against the Sabres and allowed Colorado to improve to 3-3-0 since MacKinnon went out with a left shoulder injury two weeks ago. The original timeline was MacKinnon would miss 2-to-4 weeks, so he could return soon, depending on how his injury is responding to treatment.

He was on the ice for practice Tuesday in a non-contact jersey but coach Jared Bednar ruled him out of the Montreal game. He wouldn't say if MacKinnon would play Friday at Winnipeg or Sunday at home against Edmonton.

The Canadiens (22-26-7) have a bigger climb if they want to reach the playoffs. They need to climb ahead of six teams in the Eastern Conference and are 2-4-1 since defeating the Avalanche.

The shrinking playoff possibilities means Montreal will likely be a seller before the Feb. 26 trading deadline. Wednesday's game is the first on this four-game road trip, and the focus will be on hockey, not who will be with the team in two weeks.

"From my end of it, we're all pros," Canadiens coach Claude Julien told the Montreal Gazette after practice Monday when asked about the trade-deadline distraction. "Whether you're coaching, whether you're a player, there's times where that kind of comes along the way. So you have to be able to manage it in a way where you focus on what you can control. As far as a player is concerned, he's got to focus on controlling his game and doing everything he can because the other part he has absolutely no control on."

Montreal has struggled on the road this season with an 8-16-1 mark away from home. The team got a boost with Philip Danault on the trip. He has not played since taking a puck to the head in a Jan. 13 game against Boston. He practiced Monday but has not been cleared to play yet.

"I think it's encouraging for him," Julien told the Montreal Gazette about Danault practicing with his teammates. "Anybody who goes through what he went through, it can be pretty demoralizing. But he's had a great attitude, he's worked hard. He's been skating for a week and gotten better to the point where they're allowing him to practice now."